Desperate Times, Desperate Measures
by The Elven Enigma
Summary: Something must be done...
1. Default Chapter

Desperate Times, Desperate Measures

By Aubrey S.

The Elven Enigma

Jareth tossed and turned in his kingly bed. He was chasing after sleep, but it seemed as though the more he tried the farther it was from him. Ha hated what he had become. By day, he was the Goblin King. He had recovered from the complete destruction of his castle, had control over one of the most powerful realms of the Underground, and struck fear into the hearts of all creatures, big and small alike. He was all-powerful and had a distinct aura of strength and arrogant grace about him that everyone in the Underground could sense just by being near him. But ever since a whiny, demanding, and spoiled fifteen-year old brat had spoken the only six words in existence that could have defeated him, he had become a different creature by night.

Now, instead of slumbering peacefully, entwined in silken sheets spun by his own personal team of silk fairies and dreaming of the possibilities of his powers, he spent his nights in the same bed, twisting the now-not-as-fine-feeling sheets about him as he tried everything to get that same brat out of his head. For despite her incessant whining and her selfish attitude, she was strong, courageous and indomitable and the great Jareth had been forced to surrender to her conquering of him.

The part that had kept him awake every night for two years now—whether he was aware of it or not—was that his feelings about her were so ambivalent that he couldn't let himself accept either side. She was brave and determined, and for that he loved her. But she had reduced him to a sniveling creature that could barley create the illusion of concentrating on anything during the day, much less actually accomplishing anything, and for that he despised her. He adored her, but he hated her for it. Within lay his paradox.

It was no good. For another countless night, he threw off his covers and dressed himself. He was getting no sleep tonight.

He took a deep breath and transformed into an owl, trying like the damned to get a hold of his emotions long enough for a quick flight. He shot out the window and flew towards the highest tower of his castle, but not without great difficulty. The transformation would randomly give out for a split second, leaving Jareth hanging in the air. And when the form would return, he still felt like he weighed tons and it took most of his energy to keep his wings moving. Every time he stopped flapping to soar for a moment, he would begin to fall. It was utterly exhausting.

Everything was overly tiring and had been for two years. His flights became more and more sporadic, his transformations weakened, he could barely transport himself to anywhere inside the Labyrinth, much less to any other kingdoms. He never slept, he snapped at everyone even more than usual and everything he did was enough effort to weaken him entirely. He was in Hell. And as far as he could see, it would be that way for eternity. Damn Sarah. Damn her for ever letting him set eyes on her. Damn her for making him fall in love with her.

He finally landed on the tower and tried to transform as slowly as possible, as to not injure himself. But about halfway through, he lost control and his original form took over too quickly, throwing him backward and knocking the wind out of him. He cracked the back of his head on the stone and felt something in his knee give way. He lay there on his back for a long time, just letting the pain soak into him. He had the power to heal himself but these days it took much longer. He lay there on the cold, stone floor of the tower until the first rays of sun peaked over the horizon. He paid no attention to the gorgeous sight for he found no joy in it anymore.

A sunrise in the Underground is a sight a mere mortal could never imagine. The sky lightens from the midnight blue to a soft violet and the first rays of sunshine are pure yellow that shoot through the luminous purple clouds that hug the horizon. The rays turn from yellow to a vivid green and then into a blood red as the sky changes yet again to a robin's egg blue and the clouds begin to dissolve. Gradually, the colors become less vibrant and simply fade into each other, the clouds disappear and the sunlight catches everything, warming the entire world in only a few moments and bathing everything in a breathtaking golden glow.

As the newborn sun washed over him, Jareth felt the pain in his body subside but he could not convince himself to get up off the floor and return to his subjects. He couldn't bear to spend another day pretending everything was fine and that he was just as powerful as he'd always been, if not more so. It was too much work and it hurt him too much. A brief thought dashed through his head, wondering if it wouldn't be easier to simply propel himself from the tower and end this Purgatory forever. When he become conscious of the idea, he sat up straight and shook his head. This was not happening. He could not allow it.

He always figured he had no choice but to work as hard as he could to forget about Sarah and the whole ordeal. But it had never occurred to him that he had another option besides suicide, which he didn't consider an option anyway. He got to his feet in a graceful movement, which had not happened without a great amount of effort in a long time. He looked out over his green, lush kingdom, the Labyrinth glittering in the morning light and made up his mind. He started to wave his hand and transport himself to the throne room but figured it wasn't a good idea. He didn't know just how long this burst of confidence might last. He opened a door on the far side of the tower and dashed down a countless number of stairs, through the royal kitchen (getting odd looks from the kitchen staff; the goblins had been noticing something strange about their master's behavior but couldn't quite tell what it was), down past the dungeons, then up another ten or twenty flights, down the endless corridors that made up the goblins' quarters and finally through the back door of the throne room. He tried as hardest to breathe normally and look fierce as he entered the room. But as soon as he did, he realized the lack of need for it.

Not a single of the grimy little creatures even noticed his entrance. The usual chaos of the throne room was even more insane than usual due to the end of another very successful harvest. After months on end of grueling hard work all the goblins wanted to do in the wintertime was be lazy, celebrate and stuff themselves sick with the newly reaped food. _God, this will be so much worse when the snow begins to fall_, Jareth thought to himself.

As it was, the throne room was frenzied with goblins making toasts and sloshing wine all over each other. Some had already passed out and now littered the floor, snoring. Several of the more idiotic drunks were chasing around chickens, who squawked and darted around the slumbering obstacles in an attempt to escape their blundering pursuers. Goblets clanked, glass shattered, goblins roared with laughter.

Jareth almost tried to yell over the din, then thought better of it. Praying that his strength would hold up, he produced a crystal and—using quite a bit of his precious power and cursing Sarah again for making something like this so difficult when two years ago it would have been effortless—tossed it into the air. The goblins were still unaware and were deep in conversation and drunken stupor but as Jareth concentrated on the crystal, it exploded into a thousand yellow, blue and green fireworks.

The noise was deafening and all the Goblins jumped and tried to figure out what was going on. After a moment, when the fireworks dissolved into thin air and Jareth had had a moment to catch his breath, he said, "Listen, those of you who are still sober enough to understand me. I'll be leaving for a while and may not be back until the Spring Planting. You will be left to govern yourselves and I promise you if any part of my kingdom is worse when I return, there will be Hell to pay. I will bypass the Bog of Eternal Stench and directly resort to physical excruciation. Am I perfectly understood?"

His subjects nodded stupidly with blank expressions. "Alright, then," Jareth continued, "in that case GET OUT! I have work to do. OUT! NOW!"

The goblins scurried to get out of his way and within seconds, the throne room was clear and Jareth sat down to gather his energy.


	2. The Winds of Change

Sarah sighed and sat back in her desk chair. Endless amounts of papers, books, folders and pencils surrounded her, littering the desk and the floor around it. _So much for senioritis,_ she said to herself, _I have more work than ever this year_.

Deciding it was time for a break, Sarah stood up. Stepping delicately over the piles of schoolwork on the floor, she made her way to her window. As she opened it, a warm breeze greeted her and the stars above her house glittered through the night, half-hidden by the large oak tree in the back yard. She smiled at the April night and seated herself on the windowsill.

It wasn't very often anymore that she got these moments. She was so overwhelmed as she prepared to leave high school in a matter of months and it was so difficult to let herself relax.

So she took advantage of the spare moment and watched the tree create shadows that moved and danced around each other as if they were alive. Her mind wandered, as it often did, to her journey through the Labyrinth and her defeat of the Goblin King. The second she spoke those liberating words, "You have no power over me," she had grown up from the spoiled six-year-old she hadn't been able to overcome to a thoughtful, intelligent and beautiful fifteen-year-old girl. And she didn't stay a girl for long. She turned sixteen and got her driver's license, got a job at a local bookstore and was going to school. Now, at a ripe seventeen, she had found a whole new sense of responsibility and it had pleasantly shocked everyone around her.

Realizing that she put her defenseless baby brother on the line for her own selfish reasons affected her greatly and these epiphanies were what saved her. Even though she still dreamed of far away lands and played with her childhood toys, she had friends and went to parties. People now enjoyed her company, for she was fun to talk to when she wasn't always whining. She loved her life and was perfectly content for the first time since Toby was born.

As she sat, lost in thought, the warm breeze suddenly chilled and washed over her, causing her to shiver. It grew stronger and stronger, causing the huge tree to thrash and rattle its leaves. The papers on her bedroom floor were picked up and whirled around the room. The curtains were blowing around wildly. Acting quickly, Sarah jumped up and struggled to push the large glass doors shut. She slammed them closed and turned the latch as the wind continued to whistle through the small cracks in the old walls.

Sarah grunted in frustration as she set out to re organize all the papers that had been strewn around the room. As she straightened up, her mind raced with sudden thoughts of Jareth. She didn't know why, but she had a distinct feeling in her gut that the sudden winds were a sign of things to come…….and that, somehow, Jareth was behind it.

Before she could give it any more thought, her bedroom door burst open. In ran a 3-and-a-half year old ball of blonde energy in blue footie pajamas. Toby ran across the room, jumped into Sarah's bed and hid his tiny body under the blankets. Sarah raised an eyebrow.

"Toby?"

A small whimper was the only response.

"Toby, what's wrong?"

Still no answer. She nimbly stepped over the remaining mess and sat on the edge of the bed. Peeling back the covers to reveal Toby's round little face, she realized he'd been crying.

"What's the matter, Goblin-bait?" she said, smiling inwardly at the nickname he may never understand.

"Bad dream," was all he said.

Sarah picked up her baby brother and held him on her lap. "Tell me about it."

He proceeded to tell her about the dream he had almost every night these days. Scurrying little creatures that stole him from his bed. A tall man with a kind smile, speaking words in another language. Alone in a cold dark room, climbing stairs that kept changing. Trying to get to Sarah, but every time he tried, he just got farther away.

Sarah silently cursed Jareth for doing this to a small child. The poor kid would probably end up in therapy for the rest of his life. Sarah vowed to one day tell Toby about their trip to the Labyrinth, about Jareth and the Goblins and how she had almost lost him forever. She wanted desperately to tell him now, as she rocked him in her arms, but she knew he couldn't understand. She would tell him in a few years, when he would be old enough to take in the idea, but not so old that he would consider himself too old for "fairy tales."

"…and then the storm woke me up and I got scared." Toby finished his story and Sarah hugged him.

"Don't worry about the storm, Gobs, it's just wind."

"I don't wanna go back to my room." Toby sobbed.

"Do you want to go sleep with mom and dad?" To Sarah's surprise, Toby shook his head.

"I want to sleep here, with you."

Sarah sighed. "Okay, but I have to finish all this. So go to sleep and let me work, okay?"

Toby grinned and nodded. She watched him as he nestled down in the covers and fell asleep.


	3. Transformation, Confrontation

Jareth cried out as another surge of power came up from the deepest parts of his core. He could feel it being exhausted and he prayed that he could hold up long enough to finish the spell. He took a deep breath and brought up more from his center. He felt it rush to his head, the tips of his fingers, the soles of his feet. Then, two things happened at once. Jareth felt the transformation complete itself just as he felt something in his gut contract, telling him that he had no more power left.

He smiled to himself, collapsed on the floor and fell asleep.

Jareth awoke two days later with his power fully restored. Two days, it took, for him to recharge all his power. Two years ago, it would have taken five minutes.

He pulled himself up from the stone floor and shook his head to clear it. He blinked at the bright light of the Labyrinth and stumbled slightly over to the full length mirror across the room.

He laughed in triumph at the sight of his new form. A tall, masculine mortal with short silvery-blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. The jaw was strong and the body was in beautiful shape. When Jareth realized, though, that his new façade was naked he cursed and wondered briefly what he would do for clothes. Deciding there was nothing else to do, he used more of his precious power to create some beautiful clothes for his new body.

Silk underwear was first, and then came a pair of snug-fitting designer jeans (Jareth had always wondered what the fuss about jeans was among mortals), a tight white undershirt and a black button-down shirt with white pin stripes. The look was completed with Jareth's trademark: black velvet boots.

Pleased with himself, Jareth let the feelers of his intuition extend into the world above. It was 6:28 on a Wednesday morning.

Perfect.

Beep-beep. Beep-beep. Beep-beep.

Sarah groggily opened her eyes and looked at the digital alarm clock. 6:30 a.m. on a Thursday morning…is there anything more depressing? She reached up to push the snooze button but nothing happened. She pushed the button to turn it off but it continued to beep at her. Damn cheap piece of…Sarah pushed the buttons harder. Would she have to wrestle with this thing every morning? She hit the buttons one more time before picking it up and hurled it across the room. It hit the wall, broke and was silent.

Sarah groaned as she climbed up out of bed. She was so ready for it to be summer. She slipped her long legs into a pair of jeans but at the last second changed her mind. She went to the closet and put on a pale yellow summer dress. She slipped on a pair of brown sandals, snapped a rubber band around her hair as usual, grabbed her book bag and headed for the door. Before she left to go downstairs, some unknown force told her to return to her vanity and apply the smallest bit of lipstick. And while she was at it, she let her long dark hair fall around her shoulders, something she hadn't done in almost two years. She picked up her bag again and forced herself downstairs before she wasted any more time trying to look like a girl.

Her father was already at the kitchen table hiding behind a newspaper while his wife, Moira, talked non-stop in that grating voice of hers. Toby sat eating his cereal in silence, a sad look on his little face. It was only when Sarah got within earshot that she realized why.

"Colin, I can't have Toby sleeping with us every night. I haven't slept in days and I have a very important presentation this morning. I come home every day, after working nine hours and cook dinner for everyone and get Toby to bed. I need sleep, Goddamnit, and I refuse to sacrifice my few hours of rest because of a few nightmares." When Sarah's father didn't answer, Moira slapped the back of his newspaper. "Colin, are you listening to me? Something must be done about this. I can be expected to do _everything_!"

Sarah had heard enough. She couldn't even count the numbers of times Moira had too much wine with dinner and had been unable to put her son to bed. She came home every day after sitting behind a desk for nine hours, sat down on the couch, soaked her feet and read romance novels. Sometimes she felt like cooking dinner but most of the time Sarah did it. As well as all the housework on Saturdays. She slept until noon on her days off whether she had something to do or not. Sarah took Toby to his doctor's appointments, to play dates and to the park. Her father was clueless, of course, but Moira was one of the laziest people Sarah had ever met in her life.

Sarah came into the kitchen trying to keep a hold of her temper. Moira turned to her, "Oh, Sarah, good. Would you mind fixing an omelet for your father's breakfast?"

"I have to be at school in twenty minutes, I'm on my way out the door."

Moira threw up her hands. "This is exactly what I'm talking about. I have to do absolutely everything and I can't get a single one of you to cooperate. And Sarah, I just finished telling your father that I can't have Toby sleeping in our bed. He can sleep with you from now on when he's scared."

Sarah was going to make an argument about her schoolwork, but her eyes caught sight of Toby's sad face and realized how awful he must feel. She didn't want it to sound like no one wanted him. She walked over to where Toby was sitting, bent down and whispered in his ear, "Gobs, could you please take your cereal into the living room and watch TV?" Toby scrambled out of the kitchen, relieved at the opportunity to get out of Moira's way.

"What is your problem?" Sarah asked Moira when Toby was out of earshot.

"Excuse me?"

"He's your son, Moira, it's your responsibility to take care of him."

"Why do you people expect so much of me?" Moira whined.

"I don't know about Dad and Toby, but I don't expect anything from you. You've proven to me that you aren't fit to take care of a dog, much less a three-year-old boy. How can you stand there and tell me to my face that you do everything when you are the laziest, least productive and, not to mention, the bitchiest member of this family? Get over yourself, for Christ's sake." Sarah turned to leave but Moira called after her.

"Stop right there. Colin, say something." Sarah's father looked very uncomfortable and after not saying anything for a few moments, Moira sighed with frustration and turned back to Sarah.

"How dare you speak to me that way? You have—"

"Look, this is all very fascinating, but I have to go to school now."

"You do that, and come right home afterwards."

"I can't, I have to work."

"No, you're babysitting tonight. Besides, I don't like you associating yourself with those new-age nutcases at that bookstore. You will come straight home."

"Are you deaf? I have to _work_. A concept that I suppose is beyond the bounds of your imagination."

She took her bag and marched calmly out the door. She dimly heard Moira say something in a high-pitched voice, to which her father finally responded "I'll talk to her." Sarah rolled her eyes and continued out the door, saying goodbye to Toby on her way out.


	4. We Meet At Last

Sarah climbed into her car and turned the key. Instead of the quiet roar of a healthy engine that she expected to hear, what filled her ears was the dreaded sound of a dead car battery on a Thursday morning.

Sarah cursed and hit the steering wheel with clenched fists. _So much for a dramatic exit_, she thought. This had turned out to be one of the worst mornings of the school year. She climbed out of the car and leaned on the hood, trying to figure out what she was going to do. She could take the bus, but that would make her late. It was a ten-minute drive to school but it took twenty on the bus.

As she was thinking, something moved at the corner of her eye and she looked up to see a silver convertible headed down her street. As it neared her, the car slowed down and stopped at the curb. A young man with silvery-blonde hair and the most captivating blue eyes she'd ever seen stepped out of the car and came toward her. Unsure of what to do, Sarah let him approach.

"Looks like you could use a hand," he spoke with a hint of an accent that Sarah couldn't place. She found herself avoiding his stare; it was so raw and enchanting it almost hurt to look him in the eyes.

"My battery's dead and I have to be at school in fifteen minutes."

"Would you like a ride?" Sarah looked at him suspiciously and was about to politely decline when he took the words from her mouth. "No, of course not, I understand. No sense making a habit of taking rides from strange men now is there? What about a jump start?" There was a hint of a provocative tone to his voice and it made Sarah's heart race.

Sarah composed herself inwardly, gratefully thanked him and he pulled his car into the driveway. In no time, her car was running and the man said goodbye. As Sarah drove to school, her thoughts were consumed with the foreign stranger and how lucky it was that he'd appeared there. She arrived at school and hurried to class from the parking lot with three minutes to go and she decided that she'd never see him again. Why dwell on it?

She entered her English class directly as the bell rang and hurried to her seat up front. The teacher shot her a look and she smiled apologetically. As the lesson began and the class around her conducted an in-depth discussion about _Fahrenheit 451_, she found herself lost in thought again about her mysterious angel of mercy. He had been so captivating and, she admitted to herself, so incredibly gorgeous……and, somehow, very familiar although she was certain they'd never met before. As she mused, a voice from the back of the room woke her from her thoughts.

"…a world full of programmed robots. No emotion, no real work and of course no thoughts outside of what is acceptable. It seems like that could be our future if we continue to stifle our own human desires, our creative tendencies."

She placed the voice right away; she'd heard it not twenty minutes ago in her own driveway. But separated from that gorgeous frame, the voice that floated bodiless in the room now was familiar from long ago but she couldn't seem to place it.

She turned around in her seat to look at him. There he sat, in his silvery splendor speaking words that seemed to float on the air like wisps of cloud. As she watched him, her heart sped up and her cheeks flushed. His voice was deep and came from back in his throat, yet it was clear and crisp. As he finished speaking, the teacher looked at him with raised eyebrows, obviously caught off guard.

"Thank you, Lucas. All right, you will be spending the rest of the period reading the final chapters of _Fahrenheit 451_. I expect that by tomorrow you will be prepared to lead a discussion on the metaphors for modern society used by the author." She was a stout little blonde woman who wore too much makeup and sounded like she barked at squirrels more often that she talked to senior English students. She reminded Sarah of a bulldog wearing lipstick. As she spoke she went to her desk and pulled an extra copy of the book out of a drawer and walked it back over to Lucas.

The room went gradually quiet as people opened their books and reclined in their seats to at least pretend they were reading. Sarah was having trouble with even that. She continued to sneak glances back at Lucas and at one point she watched him squint slightly at the book, pull a pair of silver-rimmed reading glasses out of his bag and slip them on. _That's it_, Sarah thought as she watched him leaning over the book, genuinely enthralled, with this thoughtful look on his face, _there's no going back now_. She knew in her heart that she was hooked.

Before she knew it, the bell rang, signaling the end of first period. Sarah smiled inwardly as she realized that within the half-hour she'd been pretending to read, she hadn't turned a single page.

As she walked from her English classroom across campus to her Calculus class, lost in thought, she was awakened by a voice behind her.

"Excuse me, did you drop this?" She spun around to face Lucas, who had Sarah's delicate gold locket dangling from his long fingers. His eyes burned into her as he practically melted away her ability to stand. Taking a deep breath, she composed herself.

"Thank you," she said, reaching to take it from him.

"Please, allow me," he replied, moving behind her. His fingers brushed ever so lightly against her throat as he fastened the chain around her neck. He leaned down and spoke softly in her ear. "You'd best be careful, you wouldn't want to go losing such a beautiful specimen, now would you?"

Sarah turned slowly around to face this strange creature that had appeared in her life out of the blue. But when she turned around, he'd vanished. _This day just keeps getting weirder_, she thought to herself.

"Hello?" Sarah came in through the back door, coming straight into the break room of The Goddess Trinity Book Store. She grabbed her black apron off the hook that had been put up especially for her use six months ago when she'd been hired.

"Jeanie?" No one answered. _She must be out on the floor_ Sarah assumed. She donned the apron embroidered with the name, address and phone number of the bookstore and passed through a beaded archway leading out onto the sales floor.

There was a line of at least fifteen impatient customers all waiting to make their purchases while behind the desk Jeanie frantically tried to run her usual one-woman show and not being very efficient about it. Her hair was a tangled mess of frizzy curls and her face was flushed with stress. Sarah sighed and smiled, moving through the strings of purple beads and taking her spot at the second register. The woman who was next in line moved up to Sarah's register and Sarah gave her a full grin.

Before Sarah knew it, it was seven o' clock. She went to the back to unload some new shipments before she was to go home at eight. She unloaded the first box and stacked them in alphabetical order. Using her box-cutter, she sliced open the second box and was humming as she sorted and stacked books with titles like _Getting In Touch With Your Inner Psychic _and _Paganism's Influence on Christianity. _

As she worked, Jeanie came back from the counter and took the books from her. "You work the counter," she said. "I'll take over for you."

Sarah raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Jeanie shrugged and gave her favorite response to that question. "Destiny."

Sarah laughed and got up from her kneeling position. "Okay, I'll bite."

She pushed the purple beads aside and stepped up to the register, only to come face-to-face with Lucas. He smiled at her and handed her a book to ring up.

"Fancy seeing you here," Sarah said, attempting to sound sly.

She rang up the book automatically, never taking her eyes off his beautiful face. He raised an eyebrow and leaned in close to her. "I have a confession to make," he said softly."

"What's that?" Sarah asked, barely able to speak as she studied his perfect features and felt his voice rumble in his throat.

"It's really no coincidence that I'm here. I wanted to see you again."

"How did you know to find me here?"

"I asked."

"And why are you here now?"

He moved closer.

"I'm trying to work up the nerve to ask you to dinner, but I'm having trouble."

Lucas moved even closer so that their faces were inches apart. He reached up to brush a strand of hair from her face and he brushed his fingertips lightly across her cheek.

"Would you like to accompany me to dinner, Sarah?"

A shiver ran through her as she nodded yes. "I'd love to…Lucas."

He pulled back slightly and smiled at her. "Please, it's Luke."

"Luke," she whispered, mostly to herself.

"Pick you up tomorrow at seven?"

Sarah nodded, smiling, and handed him his book. Luke smiled back and left the store, getting into his car and pulling away into the mad rush of traffic.

"And who was that?" It was Jeanie's voice behind her. Sarah turned to face the eccentric little red-haired woman whose age of 48 was hidden beneath the smile and disposition of a twenty year-old.

"That was Luke," Sarah replied, her head still spinning.

"He is a dream, where did he come from?"

"That…is a good question." Sarah sighed and went to finish alphabetizing.


	5. Never In My Wildest Dreams

The sight that met Sarah's tired eyes when she opened the door to the house she'd lived in her entire life was devastating. Two large suitcases and one small one, all of which had resided in her closet gathering dust for years, were sitting in the middle of the living room floor bulging with their contents.

Sarah tried to convince herself that her father was simply leaving for a business trip or that her stepmother was moving out (and in that case she'd be perfectly happy to give up her luggage). But something inside her wouldn't let her lie to herself. She knew exactly what was going on.

A figure darkened the doorway directly in front of Sarah. Her stepmother was leering at her with a hint of an evil grin on her face. "I took the liberty of packing your things."

Sarah simply stared at her, still in shock.

"You made it so clear that you no longer want to live here," Moira continued, "that I thought I'd make it as simple as possible." Her words made Sarah choke on the tears that were threatening to pour. "I expect you to be out by the morning."

Sarah saw her father standing in the kitchen behind his wife. He looked utterly depressed. "Dad," Sarah finally spoke, trying to appeal to her father's supposed love for her. "Dad, you can't let her do this."

For a split second, Sarah saw a look in his eyes and she thought she'd won. Her father would stand up to his wife and tell her that Sarah was his daughter and would always be welcome in his house. But the look in his eyes died slowly and he turned away from the scene. He couldn't fight her; she was too strong.

Well, Sarah thought, if she's so strong, I can be stronger. Sarah looked her stepmother deep in the eyes. No anger, no resentment, just pure strength and acceptance of the situation. She picked up the two big suitcases, tucked the smaller one under her arm and turned to leave.

As an afterthought, she turned back around and fixed Moira with her gaze once more and said her final words to the woman who had stepped into her life and detached her from everything she once loved. "You have no power over me." With that, Sarah left through the open door and closed her heart to the house forever.

As she was loading the suitcases into the car, she heard a little voice call her name. She watched as Toby ran to her, his little legs carrying him awkwardly but quickly toward her. Sarah knelt down and caught him in her arms, holding him close.

"Don't go," Toby squeaked through his tears.

"I have to, Gobs."

"Then take me with you."

Sarah briefly considered just taking Toby away from the house, but she didn't need kidnapping charges on top of everything else.

"Listen to me, Toby. I can't take you with me right now. But I will come back for you. I promise."

Tears came to Sarah's eyes as she told her brother to go back inside. He walked away from her, looking back only once with a tear-streaked face.

Sarah pulled out of the driveway before she broke down in fits of sobs, tears blurring her vision. She wiped them away with the back of her hand and stepped the gas, not knowing where she was going or what she would do when she got there.


	6. Sanctuary

Sarah sipped a hot cup of strong tea out of a tacky ceramic mug featuring the likeness of two kittens playing with a ball of yarn. Her tear-streaked face was blotched red and her eyes were droopy.

Jeanie, sitting beside her at the tiny kitchen table, put her arm around Sarah's shoulders and hugged her close.

"Thanks, Jeanie," Sarah said, using quite a bit of her remaining energy to keep from bursting into fresh tears.

"Anytime, doll." Jeanie paused a moment before continuing. "Do you have any idea where you can go?"

Sarah bit her lip and shook her head, her eyes on the table. "I have no idea what to do, Jeanie."

"Then it's settled. You'll stay here with me until you figure it all out."

"No, Jeanie, I couldn't put you in that position. Not only would it be imposing, but I really don't want to get you involved in all this more than I already have."

"Nonsense. I can't have you sleeping in your car all night." Jeanie got up and put her cup in the sink.

"Jeanie…"

"You can have the sofa bed."

"I…"

"I don't want another word about it." Jeanie went to Sara's side and knelt down to look her in the face. "I consider you a very close friend, Sarah. It pains me to watch you go through this. And while I can't change the situation, I can at least offer you a place to stay."

Sarah hugged the tiny woman and thanked her profusely. Jeanie showed her to the sofa and helped her pull out the bed. Once Sarah was equipped with pillows and extra blankets, she laid her weary body down on the squeaky mattress and fell at once into a dreamless sleep.

The next thing Sarah knew, Jeanie was gently nudging her awake.

"Sarah?"

"Hm?" Sarah blinked sleepily.

"I just thought I'd ask whether you wanted to go to school this morning. I'd completely understand if you didn't, but on the off chance that you're feeling up to it, you'd probably want to get up now."

Sarah lifted her head slightly and pondered the notion for a moment.

"I think I'll go. Besides, I have to cancel my date with Lucas." She threw back the covers and stretched as she got up. She noticed that her bags had been brought inside and were sitting just inside the front door.

"Do you really want to do that?"

"Of course not. But I don't know if I can pull it off while my life is this crazy."

"Sometimes a nice guy can be a pretty awesome cure for craziness." Jeanie lifted a red eyebrow.

Sarah smiled. "I really don't want to cancel."

"Then don't. Between the two of us, I think we could pull off just about anything."

* * *

Sarah arrived at school a bit early and ran into a few friends on the way to class. She didn't tell any of them about what happened. While they all considered each other friends, Sarah had never felt quite that close to any of them.

As the day went by, time crawled and flew at the same time and Sarah just floated through without saying more than five words to anyone.

At lunch, she decided to sit under the huge oak at the edge of the campus. This brought back bittersweet memories of freshman year, when she spent all her lunches here. She read, she wrote, she pondered, but she was always alone. It was her escape from the lonely horror that was school…but at the same time it was her barrier against all the shallow idiots that shared the school with her.

Sarah now seated herself under the tree for the first time in three years, and immediately she felt a familiar comfort coming from the texture of the bark against her back and the smell of damp dirt. She rested her head against the thick trunk and lost herself in her thoughts.

From the corner of her eye, she saw someone approaching her. She didn't bother to see who it was.

Luke sat down next to her. Sarah waited for him to say what he'd come over to say, but he remained silent. He just sat with her, enjoying the cool breeze that contrasted the bright sun.

Finally, he turned his head to look at Sarah and said, "Nice little spot you've carved out for yourself here."

"I haven't sat under this tree in a very long time."

"Why now?"

Sarah shrugged. "I felt like I could use the familiarity. This tree has quite the connection with my childhood."

"Does it?"

Sarah just nodded. Luke didn't inquire further and after a moment he said, "So, are we still on for tonight?"

"Most definitely." After a beat, she added, "Oh, but, there's been some complications with my living situation, and I'm staying somewhere different than where we met."

Sarah scribbled the address on a scrap of paper and Luke stored it in his pocket.

After a hesitation, Luke said, "These complications, I take it they're serious."

Sarah nodded, praying she wouldn't start crying again. "Very."

"Anything you'd want to talk about?"

In any other situation, Sarah would have thanked him and said that no, everything's fine. She didn't like confiding in most people; most were simply too shallow to understand and Sarah didn't feel close enough to any of her peers to let them into the intricacies of her life. But for some odd reason, Sarah felt compelled to tell him everything.

Before she could stop herself, she'd told him the whole story and was still battling tears. Distantly, the lunch bell rang telling them both to get to class. Luke stood up, offering his hand to Sarah. Before they went their separate ways, he embraced her silently. The hug was long and sincere, and Sarah felt instantly cheered. Luke promised to see her later and went off to his class.

As the day went by, time crawled and flew at the same time and Sarah just floated through without saying more than five words to anyone.


	7. Decisions, Decisions

Jareth opened the door to his hotel room and grinned to himself as he caught a glimpse of his beautiful new form. He sighed and reclined on his bed, snatching a crystal out of the air to peer at his Labyrinth. The Goblins had virtually torn the castle apart in his absence but that didn't worry him at all. With a wave of his hand, it could all be as it was before he left. All felt well to him, so he sent the crystal back to its source and took some deep breaths.

It hadn't been until recently that he realized how half-baked this idea was. He was very close to making Sarah his. When he'd come up with the stupid plan in the first place, he'd thought that that would be enough. But he hadn't considered what he was going to do when she _was_ his…or what he would ask of her. This charade wasn't going to hold up forever and even if it could, could he remain on this mortal plane that long? He could ask Sarah to return to the Labyrinth and rule beside him, which is what he really wanted…but he didn't think she'd jump at that chance. And besides, he'd have to give himself up. At this point, if he weren't going to eventually tell Sarah the truth, it would come down to a choice between his rule over the Labyrinth and his love for Sarah.

After several hours of simply laying on his bed thinking over everything, he decided he didn't know enough about this sort of thing to make an intelligent decision. For the first time in his life, he became aware of a void in his life. He realized that he had no one to call from whom he could ask advice. He'd never needed to before, or at least he had convinced himself that he hadn't.

Jareth rose from his bed and paced around the room. He'd have to do this on his own. He paced and racked his brain for an idea, and he decided that it all came down to one question: Would he give up the Labyrinth for Sarah?

This question caused a panic to rise to his chest. He lay back down and tried to clear his head. He let himself imagine a life without the labyrinth, without his position of power, without a castle or goblins…he didn't think he could do it. That was his life, and the labyrinth was a part of him. How could he simply abandon it?

But what of Sarah? He couldn't abandon her, either, especially not when he was so close to having her beside him. He'd never felt this way about anyone, and if he gave it up now…who's to say he would ever find it again?

Jareth fell asleep with a troubled mind.

_Jareth sat in his kingly throne and watched as the usual bustle within his palace became absolute chaos. A huge quake shook the entire labyrinth and goblins ran in all directions, their weak minds shut down with panic. While normally Jareth would find this kind of behavior quite amusing, all he could feel was the panic freezing in his chest. Chunks of stone began to fall from the walls, and Jareth felt tears spring to his eyes as several goblins were crushed by the falling rubble. Screams of pain and terror filled the room, echoing off the walls and took over Jareth's heart. _

_He stood and tried everything he could think of to stop the suffering but he could feel it deep within him—he was powerless. All he could do was watch the horrifying deaths of his subjects and give in to the crumbing power of whatever was destroying his only home. _

_He stood standing on a cliff far above the labyrinth, watching as it fell apart piece by piece until it finally collapsed in on itself, leaving only a crater of earth and a cloud of dust. He couldn't bear to look at it and he turned his back on the dismal scene, only to see Sarah dressed in black and white, the wind gently tossing her hair. She moved toward him, a strange expression on her face. The sight was strangely frightening and he took a step backward and felt the edge of the cliff just behind his heel. Sarah continued to move closer, her intense gaze fixed upon him. _She's going to push me! _Jareth realized finally. Her intention all along was to kill him. _

Just as well,_ he thought. What do I have to live for? He relaxed his pained body and surrendered to her intentions. He would join his lost labyrinth at the end of the long fall. She stopped walking when she was inches away from him. She reached for him…and pulled his face gently toward hers. She put her lips to his cheek and kissed away the tears that he had let fall. She pulled back and as she slipped her arms around his shoulders, he caught a glimpse of her beautiful face. The strange look was still alive in her eyes, but Jareth realized he must have been misinterpreting its meaning. He had met many people but human emotion was still quite foreign to him. The more he thought about it, the more he knew he must be right. The look in her eyes was not the desire for murder, but something much warmer and just as unfamiliar._

_A green forest surrounded them as they stood in a clearing with a calm, gray sky above them. Sarah pulled Jareth into an embrace and held him to her as he wept for all he had lost._


	8. An Ally in Exile

Jareth woke around three thirty in the afternoon and lay awake for a few minutes, waiting for the dream to fade from his mind. He knew that the dream was his answer, but he still felt conflicted.

Pulling up a crystal, he checked on the Labyrinth, which had not, in reality, turned into a crater. Silver lining #1.

He'd been trying very hard not to use too much magic in his human form because it used up so much energy, both physical and magical. It was the difference between driving 20 miles in a hybrid and driving 500 miles in a hummer—the same amount of fuel just doesn't cut it.

Nevertheless, he summoned up a simple spell for dreamless sleep that would end at six thirty. A few hours of sleep would do him good and would also give him the energy to get dressed magically instead of manually.

* * *

Sarah's heart jumped as she heard the doorbell. She bolted off the sofa and went for the door, but Jeanie stopped her. "Let me get the door. I'll show him to the living room and make him comfortable. After a minute, come into the room like you were finishing getting ready. It adds effect." Jeanie winked at her and went to greet Luke as Sarah went into Jeanie's room and closed the door.

* * *

Jeanie pulled open the front door to welcome the young man. As she looked at him standing on the porch, and as he looked up to greet her, an instantaneous recognition flashed between the two of them, and suddenly Jareth knew he had an ally.

"Jeanille," Jareth said with a smile.

"Jareth?" Jeanie narrowed her eyes.

"I thought you were dead." Jareth looked over her shoulder and didn't see Sarah. He risked a quick embrace with his old friend.

"Exiled," Jeanie opened the door to let him in, lowering her voice as she did so. "You know how it is, these barbarians with their armies come in, want your kingdom and when you refuse—well, it didn't turn out well. My kingdom now consists of a pile of rubble and I'm stuck on this mortal plane for eternity."

Her words struck him slightly, bringing back the images from his dream. He shook it off. "We simply must have a conversation soon. We have quite a bit of catching up to do." The two unlikely friends moved into the house and stood together, their voices now even lower.

"I agree. Like what business you have with an eighteen-year-old mortal girl." She looked sideways at him.

"It's not what you think. She defeated me."

"And you love her."

"Strangely enough."

The two of them became silent as the door to the bedroom opened and Jareth felt himself being sucked into a redundant scene from almost every movie he'd seen since being in the human world. But he couldn't help himself.

Sarah emerged from the bedroom, wearing a simple black dress and matching pumps. Her long dark hair was swept over one shoulder and had a white rose pinned in it. She was breathtaking.

Jareth went to her, bent down and kissed her hand. "You look lovely."

Sarah felt herself blush despite her obstinate efforts not to. She thanked him and flashed her brilliant smile.

"Shall we?" Jareth offered her his arm.

"Sarah, dear, shouldn't you get a coat?" Jeanie suggested before Sarah could answer.

"That's a good idea," Jareth agreed. "It's a bit chilly."

Sarah looked at Jeanie—she hadn't brought a coat. Hers were all up in the attic in her stepmother's house. Jeanie's expression clearly said, _Use whatever you need_. Sarah disappeared into Jeanie's room again.

As soon as she was out of sight, Jareth turned back to Jeanie. "I still don't understand why Sarah is here, with you."

"She and I work together—" Jareth raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I have a job, I run a bookstore. Don't look so surprised; what do you expect me to do for money in the mortal realm? When a barbarian Lord sends you packing out of your own kingdom, he doesn't exactly allow you to take the family fortune with you, does he? Anyway, as I was saying, Sarah works at the store and she and I have become quite close. When she ran into some complications at home, she came to me and has been staying here."

"Complications. What complications?" Jareth, always the strategist, decided to play dumb.

"Not my place to say."

Jareth rolled his eyes. Sarah emerged from the bedroom with a cream-colored coat that appeared to be made of crushed velvet draped over her arm. Another image from his dream struck Jareth—the image of Sarah dressed in black in white.

But when she came forward to take his arm, his anxiety melted away and he felt like nothing more than an eighteen-year-old boy taking a beautiful girl out on a beautiful spring evening. He realized in that moment just how much he worried. Between ruling the Labyrinth, obsessing over his defeat, this new form, his plan to win Sarah's heart…he really hadn't relaxed for two years.

Jareth opened the passenger door and guided Sarah inside. The silver convertible had its cloth top up this evening and when Sarah was safely inside, he climbed into the driver's seat.


	9. Dragon Tears

_"It's a marvelous night for a Moondance, with the stars up above in your eyes…"_

Jareth laughed heartily and sat back in his chair. _Think of that,_ he thought to himself, _she's actually quite charming_. Sarah sat across from him, also laughing. Her smile was wide and her laugh was infectious. Jareth was once again thrown by the amount of maturing she'd done since he'd last seen her. She'd grown up to be a strikingly beautiful and sharp-witted young woman. He smiled inwardly, thinking about how much of an effect she had on him. She'd been able to turn a cold-hearted Goblin King into a goofy schoolboy again. Not exactly the most dignified transition for a great ruler but strangely enough, Jareth appreciated it.

Both of them stopped laughing as their waiter brought them their food. Jareth savored a mouthful of steak and Sarah cut into her eggplant Parmesan.

"You seem to lead a very…adventurous life," Jareth commented.

"When there's time. Life's a little crazy at present," she replied.

Jareth nodded. "What would you say was your greatest adventure?"

Sarah met his eyes and grinned. "I could tell you," she said, "but then I'd have to kill you."

"Sounds mysterious. Intriguing. Illegal, maybe?"

Sarah laughed. "Illegal, no. And not mysterious either, really…just…surreal. You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Says who?"

"Trust me."

"Guilty conscience."

"Is not." Sarah narrowed her eyes at her date jokingly.

"So tell me."

"You don't give up, do you?"

"Not without a consolation prize."

At this Sarah's face softened. "In the form of what?"

"It's up to you."

Sarah smiled slyly and, raising herself a bit off her seat, leaned forward until she was less than an inch away from Jareth's face. Jareth's heart raced and his face flushed as he thought about the feeling of her lips on his. A split second before Jareth was about to lean in and kiss her, Sarah picked up Jareth's napkin from the table, dabbed the corner of his mouth with it and sat back down. Jareth blinked several times in rapid succession as Sarah smiled wryly.

"What was that?" Jareth asked her, laughing.

"Your consolation prize," Sarah replied. "I saved you the embarrassment of spending the rest of the evening with A-l sauce on your lip."

"Smart ass," Jareth said and both laughed harder.

The rest of the meal went by with ease. As they left the restaurant and went back to Jareth's car, it took all of Jareth's strength not to put his arms around her and deliver her kiss after passionate kiss right there in the parking lot. But he restrained himself in an agonizing attempt to be a gentleman.

"So where are we going now?" Sarah asked.

"I was thinking about a dance," Jareth said, truthfully.

Sarah said nothing but smiled, so Jareth pulled out of the parking lot and drove them for a few miles up to the top of the hill that overlooked the town. He parked the car and led Sarah out to a crest in the hill that gave them a wonderful view of the city below.

"You want to dance here?" Sarah asked.

"That was the plan, yes. But, unfortunately, we don't have any music."

Sarah smiled. "What are you suggesting?"

"Frankly? I was suggesting that you sing."

"Sing what?" Sarah asked, not showing the slightest sign of the usual annoying modesty or embarrassment at the proposal.

"The most romantic song you know," Jareth said, and pulled her closer into a fluid dance.

Sarah began to sing:

"There's such a sad love,

Deep in your eyes,

A kind of pale jewel

Opened and closed within your eyes.

I'll place the skies within your eyes…"

Jareth's heart caught in his throat and he fought back a tear. The representation of his first attempt at winning Sarah's heart (when even he still believed that it was all a ruse to come out the victor in the end) and Sarah picks it as the perfect song for a moonlight dance with someone she barely knew. What a bittersweet moment.

* * *

"Shall I take you home, then?" Luke asked Sarah when they were both inside the car.

Sara yawned. "I think so. For a first date, this has been more than splendid. But it's been a long couple of days."

Luke smiled. "Of course."

When they pulled up in front of Jeanie's house, Sarah hugged Luke as he sat in the driver's seat. "Thank you so much for dinner, and even more for the dance. I had a wonderful time."

"As did I," Luke replied with a smile as he brushed the hair from her face. Sarah embraced him again and lighted a kiss on his temple. With that and a smile, she disappeared into the house. She went inside and watched from the window as he drove away.

Grinning, she followed the only light in the house into the kitchen, where Jeanie sat in her gaudy bathrobe and a cup of tea dying to hear how the evening went.

Sarah recounted the night in detail, all the time her face being taken over by an ear-to-ear grin. And somehow she knew that a similar grin was lighting up Luke's face as he drove through the warm, sweet darkness to his hotel room, on his way to a lovely sleep with her in his dreams.


	10. Clarity and Strength

Jareth knocked on the door of the little house at nine o' clock in the morning the next day. Jeanie answered the door, dressed but yawning.

"Jareth, what are you doing here?"

"Is Sarah home?" Jareth asked nervously.

"No, Hon, she's on an errand."

"Good. Can we talk?"

Jeanie sat Jareth down in the kitchen, made him a cup of decaf (because Lord knows Jareth, of all beings, does _not_ need caffeine), and asked him what was wrong.

Jareth told her of his quandary. He loved her, and even though he had no idea how it happened, he had spent the last two years in utter anguish. But now that he was with her, he loved her even more than he had before (if that were possible) and wanted to feel this way forever.

"But I have no idea where to go from here, Jeanille," Jareth continued. "I can't tell her who I am, she'd never speak to me again. But I don't think I could bear eternity in a human form, without magic, without the Labyrinth…….not to mention lying to Sarah."

Jeanie didn't say anything for a long time. Finally she said, "You have to tell her, Jareth. She's falling in love, I saw that last night. But she's falling in love with Luke, not you."

"But I _am_ Luke."

"Not to her."

Jareth was silent. After a moment, he said, "How do I tell her something like that? 'Hi, Sarah, remember me? I'm the creature that stole your baby brother out of his bed and took him away to my Labyrinth so that you would have to leave everything behind you and suffer a long and grueling journey through an unfamiliar and magically altered plane of existence. Well, anyway, while attempting to overpower and lure you into my clutches as well, I managed to fall in love with you at the same time. Think of that! So, what do you say you join me in ruling over a bunch of dumb goblins in the very plane from which you worked so hard to escape?'"

Jeanie nodded. "Sounds perfect. Did you rehearse that one?"

"This isn't funny."

Jeanie laughed. "On the contrary. It's hysterical."

"Some friend you are."

"Okay, okay. You just have to be straight with her, Jareth. She's not going to be pleased about this and, more than likely, she'll turn you away. You just have to pray that you've made enough of an impression on her that she won't completely hate you forever."

"That sounds so promising."

"It's not."

"I picked up on that. How much time do I have?"

"The sooner you tell her, the better."

* * *

The Saturday morning air was coming in fresh and sweet as Sarah drove down her old street and pulled up to her stepmother's house. Tears threatened to pour as she walked up the drive, and she had to pause for a moment to take a deep breath and calm down.

She braced herself as she rang the doorbell, but relaxed slightly when her father answered the door. "Father," Sarah said coldly.

"Sarah," he replied with an expression that was both of excited relief and of apologetic guilt. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see my brother," Sarah said, and after a beat she added, "Is Moira home?"

"No, she's gone shopping," Colin said. "Come in."

"I'd rather not. I was hoping I could take Toby out for the afternoon."

"Your stepmother would be very angry—"

"I honestly couldn't care less. He's still my brother, and the last real family member I have. If you think I'm just going to leave Toby here with her…" Sarah trailed off as she looked into her father's pained face. His eyes were cast down and his whole body sagged with the weight of his forty-six years.

Sarah simply looked at him as an unexpected twinge of pity for her father rose from within her. She did her best not to let it show.

"You never could stand up to her. She took over everything that rightfully belonged to you. The house, the finances, even your children, and you never said a word. You never stood up for us; you never stood up to join your own children in a fight against the person who was invading everything. Toby is still so young; I was on my own. And she won, she beat me, I was forced to leave. But why? Not because I wasn't strong enough, but because my own father wouldn't take up arms against the monster in the closet. Well, fine. You both win. I certainly hope you're happy with yourself."

Colin sighed and couldn't look at his daughter, standing in the doorway like an outsider. "Are you ever coming home?" he asked her.

"Are you ever going to tell Moira to leave?"

Colin bit his lip and remained silent. Sarah shook her head with disdain, "I didn't think so."

It was at this point that Toby came racing down the stairs, through his father's legs, across the threshold and into Sarah's arms. "Hey, Gobs," she said and hugged him.

Sarah looked at Colin. "I'll have him home by dinner," she said and turned her back on the weak little man on the threshold.

"Sarah," he said and she turned once again to face him. He began to say something, but stopped himself. Instead, all he could manage was, "I'm sorry."

Sarah nodded and turned her back on the man who'd done the same to his kids so many years ago.


	11. Truth Be Told

"Sarah, are you ever coming home?" Toby looked over at his big sister from his car seat and Sarah had to marvel once again at how much older than nearly four he sounded. She debated for a moment on how to answer his question. In the end, she decided she couldn't lie to him.

"I don't think so, Gobs."

Toby looked crestfallen. "Why not?"

Sarah sighed. "Moira asked me to leave. And as long as she's living there, I can't go back."

Toby was quiet, and Sarah knew he was busy putting his little brain to work processing this information. Sarah turned into the driveway of her and Toby's favorite restaurant. Sarah remembered countless times that she'd been there with her mother, before Toby was born. Her father brought her and Toby there with Moira, when they were first married. Sarah hadn't set foot in this parking lot in over five years.

They got a booth in the back of the air-conditioned building. They ordered chocolate shakes and hamburgers, dipping their fries into the frozen drinks as they talked.

"So why doesn't Moira leave?" Toby asked her. "Then you could come back."

Sarah took her time answering this question, not wanting to instill any unnecessary hostility in the young boy, even toward Moira.

"Because Dad loves Moira. He asked her to come live with us, and they got married. It's up to him to decide when she leaves…and I don't think that's going to be any time soon."

"Why?"

Another tricky question. She had no wish to cause her father to lose face when it came to his son. "Because…Dad has…" Sarah was stumped.

"Doesn't he want her to go?" Toby interrupted her thinking.

Sarah sighed. "I think a part of him does. But he can't ask her to leave, it isn't that simple. He…isn't strong enough."

Toby seemed to understand exactly what she meant, to Sarah's relief. She decided to take this opportunity to tell him what she'd taken him out to tell him. She reached across the table and took his tiny hands in hers.

"Listen to me Toby, and listen carefully. I love you, and I love Dad, and if I could come home to look after you both, then I would. But I can't. So you have to learn to take care of yourself. Moira is dangerous, in a lot of ways. You have to understand that none of what she does is your fault. Don't let her make you sad, or angry, or upset, because it will only make things worse. You are a very special little boy, and you can't ever forget that. You are better than her, you are above her. Don't ever let her tell you different."

For a brief moment, Sarah saw something flash in her brother's eyes—something that wasn't small, weak, or four years old. It was strong, regal…even royal. And it was in that second that she knew his destiny held something far greater than this world, than this life. This little boy was to grow up to be a leader, a King. Toby nodded in agreement to her words, assuring Sarah that he would be just fine in that house.

Which was good, because now there would be no reason to resort to kidnapping, which was plan B.

Sarah smiled at her brother. "So, you're turning the big 0-4 tomorrow. What do you want to do for your birthday?"

* * *

Sarah pulled into the driveway of her father's house, behind Moira's car. Sarah swore under her breath, hoping Toby didn't hear her. She half believed that Moira wouldn't be back by the time she brought Toby home. But there was no turning back now.

She took Toby's hand and walked with him up to the front door, rang the doorbell. As the door opened, Sarah saw her father's face lined with weariness and heard Moira's voice from the kitchen. "Colin, is that her?" Her falsely sweet tone made Sarah's blood run cold.

Without waiting for an answer from her husband, Moira emerged from the kitchen. Upon seeing the evil expression on her face, Sarah relaxed. _She's no more than a monster. Brute strength, no brains_. Sarah prodded Toby into the house, watched him run past Moira, up the stairs and—Sarah could only guess—into Sarah's old room, which had most likely been given to Toby.

Moira stood before Sarah, silent and staring. Sarah took a deep breath. "Toby's birthday is tomorrow. I'd like to take him."

Moira folded her arms. "Would you?"

Sarah nodded curtly, and Moira laughed. "The last time I checked, it didn't matter what you did or didn't like."

"Moira, don't let the past interfere here. It's his birthday, let me take him for the day."

"Absolutely not."

"Toby wants to go with her." Colin's voice shocked both his wife and daughter, and they both turned to look at him. He didn't return the stares; instead, he directed his attention to his shoes. "Let him go, he wants to be with Sarah."

Sarah felt a surge of love for her father as he made his first step toward standing up for himself. Moira turned her attention on her husband. "Shut up, Colin."

Sarah's heart fell as her father backed down a bit. _Don't give up now_, she pleaded silently. Her father mumbled something to the floor that sounded something like, "He should be happy."

Moira was furious. "Stay out of it. It doesn't concern you."

She'd finally done it. She'd said exactly the right thing to break the spell, at least for a moment. Her father looked up from his feet and stared at his wife. His voice shook a bit, but he was nevertheless unafraid. "It does concern me. These are my kids. Toby is my son, too, and he should have what he wants for his birthday, damn it. And he wants to be with Sarah." He turned to his daughter, who had tears in her eyes. "You can pick him up in the morning. I'll make sure he's ready to go." And without another word, he walked past Moira into the kitchen.

Sarah took one last look at the monster and left.

Driving home, she swelled with pride for her father. She worried, too, because she knew that Moira's abuse would double until she cut him down again. But Sarah was just as certain that she would leave Toby alone from now on.

* * *

Sarah pulled up to Jeanie's door around four o' clock. She planned on telling Jeanie that she could go back to work on Monday (for, of course, Jeanie had given Sarah a few days off work to recover). She only had two weeks left of school, then she would graduate and hopefully head off to college…so much was in store for her, and she was simply floating on air as she entered the house.

In fact, Sarah was too high to realize how confusing the scene in Jeanie's living room was as she walked in. Luke and Jeanie sat on the sofa, and had obviously been deep in conversation until Sarah came in. Now, Luke stood up, looking slightly pale.

"Hi!" Sarah exclaimed as she embraced him. "What's going on, what are you doing here?"

Luke shot Jeanie a look, and Jeanie hastily headed off into the kitchen. Sarah sensed the energy for the first time and her face fell. "Is everything okay?" she asked, knowing full well it wasn't.

"Sit down, Sarah," Luke said, and they both sat.

There was a tense silence in the room as Luke looked like he was trying to gather up the words for what he was trying to tell her. Sarah felt it best not to say anything, but the suspense was tearing at her chest cavity. Finally, Luke took a deep breath.

"I have to tell you something, Sarah, something you aren't going to like. But first, I want to you know that I have truly come to care about you and it was never an intention of mine to bring you pain. It was all due to bad planning on my part, and for that I am eternally sorry."

Sarah narrowed her eyes at him. "What's going on?"

"I'm not who you think I am. I've deceived you, because I knew you could not love me as I was."

Sarah was utterly perplexed. "What are you talking about? Luke…"

"That isn't my name, it's simply one conjured up by a creature so pathetic and desperate that he went to extreme means to win your heart. Two years ago, I fell in love with you, and it's haunted me every day since. It's affected everything, I can't sleep…"

As this monologue went on, his voice changed and Sarah noticed he was speaking strangely. Something nagged at her memory, she knew that voice, she knew those words. She racked her brain, tried to recall…_that voice._ _Where had she heard it? Those words…_She knew them, could almost picture the lips that spoke them…she was near panic, she had to remember…

Then, it hit her in an explosion of realization, her head pounding with the horrible idea. She put her shaking hands to her temples, trying to drive out the knowledge that just a moment ago she'd been desperate for.

"No," she whispered. She looked up at his face, the recognition doubling as she saw him, her headache worsening. "No, it can't be. You aren't…"

Suddenly, the room shifted and spun. Sarah stood up, but lost her balance and reached for the arm of the couch to steady herself, but it was gone. Before she could fall, though, the spinning stopped and Sarah stood on a familiar hill, overlooking an all-too-familiar landscape. The Labyrinth shimmered in the moonlight (for, of course, time moves quite differently there) and every star winked and sparkled with a brilliance one can only imagine Aboveground.

Sarah shook her head to clear it and glanced around. She turned to her left and came face-to-face with Jareth, back in his original form, standing several feet away. Tears of rage came to Sarah's eyes as she fixed him with a wrathful glare. "How could you? You pathetic, sniveling little creature, how dare you barge into my life and mess with my emotions that way?" Sarah's voice began to rise until she was practically yelling. "What could you have been thinking?" She moved closer to him and he made no move to back away. She began to beat on his chest with her fists. "You sick, twisted son of a bitch—"

Jareth gently took her wrists in his hands to stop her from hitting him further. She wrenched out of his grip and stood back. "Don't touch me."

"Sarah…"

"Don't. Don't even start. I cannot listen to any more of your manipulative lies, I want to go home."

"Will you please listen?"

"Why should I? Face it, Jareth. I _won_. Are you really such a sorry excuse for a king that you can't handle the occasional defeat? You couldn't just let it go, you had to play this horrible little joke on me for your own sick entertainment—"

"It wasn't like that. Every night I go to bed, and I can think of nothing but you. You defeated me, and I loathed you for it. But that wasn't the reason for my agony—my powers have dwindled, my kingdom has gone to rubbish, I can't rule, I can't concentrate…and why? Because I love you. And I have to live every day knowing that you absolutely despise me. If there was ever a doubt that I have a heart, know that I most certainly do. Because I can feel it breaking."

Sarah looked at him, motionless. "You expect me to believe that? Honestly, Jareth, if I learned anything from our last meeting, it's that you will do absolutely anything to have as much power as possible. And wouldn't that be the ultimate victory? To win over the one person who ever made you feel less than supreme?" She shook her head, crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, forgive me, but I have no wish to be the one to restore your ego. Now send me home."

Jareth almost started to protest, but the look in her eyes showed the truth. He had lost to her will yet again. With a wave of his hand, he was alone on the cliff, and as he gazed over his kingdom, he thought that the Labyrinth had never looked lonelier.


	12. A White Christmas and a Red Warning

School ended for Sarah and she worked full-time for Jeanie over the summer. When classes at the community college started up in the fall, she went back to a part-time position and began taking classes. Busy as she was, she still managed to see Toby two or three times a week and he always looked forward to his visits with her.

Toby continued to mention his horrible nightmares about being stolen from his bed and looked after by a cruel man who kept him from Sarah. Every time he told her about one, she had a strong urge to tell him why. But something stopped her—it wasn't time.

He also asked her frequently why she looked so sad. She'd always smile and tell him she was just tired.

Truth was, she'd been having sleepless nights herself. Months after her second unwanted rendezvous with the Goblin King, she was still so hurt and angry that she delved into her work and hardly ever saw anyone but Jeanie and Toby.

Sarah turned eighteen in late October, and by December she had moved out of Jeanie's house and into an apartment overlooking the park, where she used to play not all that long ago. As time went on, she eventually got past her rage and tearful nights, and eventually a time came where she was really truly happy, even through the holidays that she'd dreaded since leaving her father's house.

She knew that Moira wouldn't stand for Sarah having Toby over Christmas, and because the college campus was closed down and Jeanie insisted she take a few days off work, she was lonelier than she'd been in months. When Christmas Eve rolled around, she sat in her armchair and stared at the miniature Christmas tree on the table by the window, sipping lukewarm eggnog and listening to Bing Crosby sing "White Christmas." It was utterly depressing.

But in the midst of her wallowing, a knock at the door intrigued her enough to get up and see who was calling. Jeanie's cheeks were red with the crisp winter air as she held up a plate of awful-looking cookies and asked if Sarah would like some company.

So Sarah's Christmas wasn't horrible in the end, and as it turns out, when tiny flakes of snow decorate your windowsill and you're in the company of someone you love…even bad cookies aren't so bad.

Meanwhile, Jareth's Christmas in the Underground was beyond sad. For the first time in centuries, the Underground's seasonal weather had coincided with that of the Aboveground's, and every kingdom from the Great Chasm in the West to the seacoast in the East was celebrating merrily in the snow.

Jareth, however, had lodged himself in his throne room and was now sitting there, looking more pathetic every minute as he watched the Goblins run to and fro, draped with tinsel and stumbling over one another to get to the spiced ale. The whole labyrinth had been decorated in white, and everything seemed to be saturated in even more glitter than usual. Even as he was a bit surprised at the Goblins' ability to create such a scene without their King's magical assistance, the whole sight was making Jareth nauseous.

It had been over six months since Sarah had turned her back on him a second time, and now the rage and agony that had once plagued him had returned, and had brought their distant cousins, guilt and depression. He'd hardly moved from the throne room, and the Goblins had for the most part forgotten about him, for he had neither the energy nor the desire to torment them.

On this afternoon, he was still sitting on his throne, looking disheveled, his clothes wrinkled and his riding crop on the floor with his boots. His hair was flat and matted and his whole persona had acquired quite the odor about it. His eyes were glazed over as he stared at the wall without really seeing it.

"Your Highness?" said a voice next to him. Jareth turned his head slowly and looked at the winged messenger without interest. The creature was blue in color with stunning, gauzy, green wings and was hovering near Jareth's throne. Its long, lithe body was tense and Jareth placidly noticed a sense of urgent energy about it, as well as deep worry lines on its beautiful face.

The messenger continued, "My name is Nynx, I have been sent to inform you that your kingdom is in grave danger. A barbarian army from across the Great Chasm has taken advantage of the celebrating and intends to invade the Labyrinth. You must gather your army immediately to defend against them."

Jareth registered what Nynx was saying, but he could work up no emotion for the situation. The Labyrinth and the rest of his kingdom had come to mean little to him. He was no longer a King, and he no longer felt any responsibility for anything he once cared for.

In response to Jareth's silence, Nynx spoke again. "Your Highness? What are your orders? Sir?"

Jareth sighed and looked up at Nynx. "Let them come."


	13. Nightmares

Sarah awoke on Christmas morning warm and happy. She planned on going over and seeing Toby, but first she wanted to eat breakfast and enjoy the early morning. She sat up and stretched, feeling rewarded and as though the world was how it should be for the first time in a year. The feeling was, to say the least, short-lived.

A knock on her door pulled Sarah away from her cereal. Jeanie hurried inside, her face that of a woman on the brink of hysteria, though when she spoke her voice was clear and steady: "Sarah, something's happened."

Sarah felt the blood drain from her face and she motioned for Jeanie to sit. She wanted to say something in response, but she couldn't summon the words. She waited in silence for Jeanie to continue.

Jeanie took a deep breath. "It's about Jareth."

Sarah almost rolled her eyes, but cold reality struck her like lightning. "How…Jeanie, how do you…?"

Jeanie sighed. "My full name is Jeanille Krystendal. Well, at one time it was Her Most Supreme Highness Jeanille Kyrstendal, but that was a long time ago. Listen, Sarah. I'm from the Underground; I used to rule over a kingdom there."

Sarah's head was spinning. Just when she thought she knew who her friends were… "I…I don't…"

Jeanie stopped her. "Just listen. Several millennia ago, there was a dimensional cave-in. Meaning that one of the parallel Universes that sits directly between the Underground and the Aboveground simply collapsed into the Underground. Now, at this point, the Underground wasn't much more than sand and rock, but the cave-in left a Great Chasm toward the East end of the dimension, so that about a fifth of it was separated completely from the rest of the world. Eventually, on the west side of the chasm kingdoms began to spring up and great leaders ruled over the people of the Underground. As far as anyone knew, nothing existed across the Chasm and no one cared to test the theory. At one point, an idea was formed to send the criminals and delinquents across the chasm instead of wasting jail space. So a retractable bridge was constructed across the chasm and all the murderers, thieves, and other low-life scum were sent across."

Jeanie paused for a moment to study Sarah's expression. Sarah was listening, but was still too dazed to offer an expression in response. Jeanie continued anyway.

"No one knew what would become of those who were sent away, but the hope was that they would just kill each other. Instead, they formed a series of barbarian armies and for the last century or so have found a way across the chasm and are invading kingdoms left and right. My kingdom was invaded some years ago, and I was one of the lucky ones who was cast Aboveground in exile."

Sarah blinked, regaining some of her wits. "How did that make you one of the lucky ones?"

"Well, it beats decapitation. Anyway, what I'm trying to tell you is that last night (in Underground terms, that is) Jareth was sent a message that his kingdom was to be invaded. Being warned about such things is a real rarity, considering that it's only occasionally that OverSeers notice the barbarian forces in the first place, and only the most revered rulers are warned of it when they do. OverSeers are neutral by nature, they don't like to get involved in affairs of war."

"Jeanie, why are you telling me all of this?" Sarah all of a sudden wanted nothing more than to go back to bed.

"He did nothing. He allowed them to destroy everything: the castle, the city…the Labyrinth itself remains only because of the intense magicks that protect it."

Sarah felt sick. Jeanie noticed the look on her face, reading her thoughts. "Jareth _is_ alive, though I don't know by how much. He's an old, old friend of mine and I'd be able to feel the absence of his Essence if he'd been killed."

"Why would he let that happen? Put everything in jeopardy like that…" Sarah was now also thinking about Hoggle, Ludo, Sir Didimus and all the rest of her Labyrinthian friends. A deep ache was settling into her chest cavity and a tear rolled down her cheek as she had a vision of the rubble where Jareth's great palace had been, the Goblin City left in ruins.

Jeanie took her gently by the shoulders and forced her to look her in the eyes. "Sarah, you must go there. If it weren't for the risk of being executed, I'd go myself. You are the only one who can talk any sense into him."

Sarah shook her head. "I can't do that."

"Why not?"

Sarah searched her mind, but could find no reason. In her heart, she was ready to fly to the Labyrinth if it meant saving it. She'd grown to love it, with all her body and soul.

"Toby," she finally said. "I have to talk to Toby."

* * *

Ten minutes later Sarah was in her car, racing to her father's house. On the passenger's seat was a ancient-looking pendent featuring a gleaming purple gem—Jeanie's gift to her—and Sarah was doing her best not to slide on the icy roads.

When she arrived, she rapped on the door with a fatal sense of urgency. Ignoring her father's stares and weak protests, Sarah pushed past him into the living room where Toby sat, among torn wrapping paper and the remains of a sorry-looking tree, reading the book she'd gotten him for Christmas. She took him upstairs to her old room, sat him down on the bed and proceeded to explain to him what his nightmares were all about.


	14. A Battle Is Lost, A War is Won

Toby, despite a look of slight confusion that twisted his childish features, seemed to accept the idea of the Labyrinth with surprising speed. He gave his older sister a hug and left the room to ponder on his own.

Sarah had no time to waste. She pulled the pendant out from her pocket and slipped it over her head, feeling a tiny yet potent buzz of electricity run through her as she did so. On an impulse, she went to her closet and—by some wonderful fluke—found the old dress that used to transform her into an all-powerful empress who ruled over the little urban park that served as her kingdom.

With only a bit of difficulty—because, sadly, she hadn't grown much these last few years—she donned the dress. Taking a deep breath, and taking hold of the pendant, Sarah whispered the last words she ever thought she'd hear herself utter (but which also brought a smile to her face, for who knew that the foolish words she'd thrown around as a child were actually valid commands of the Powers that Be?), "Goblin King, Goblin King, wherever you may be, I wish to find you, do not hide from me!"

In a swirl of color and a familiar scent, Sarah found herself atop the same hill on which she had stood only six short—oh but how long they had been!—months ago. The same hill where she'd stood almost three years ago, trying to convince herself that she was strong enough for the task ahead.

The sight that met Sarah's eyes made the tears flow from their depths as she stared, shocked, at the destruction of what was once one of the most beautiful places she'd ever been. The labyrinth still stood, as Jeanie had said, but it was strewn with debris and looked as though nothing had ever lived there. Beyond it, an immense pile of rubble, decorated here and there with small fires and littered with what only could have been the bodies of unfortunate Goblins, was all that remained of the Goblin City. Jareth's castle, though made of stone, was torn apart and set afire from within.

And before her, leaning heavily against the trunk of a nearby tree, was the sagging, dejected figure of the once mighty Goblin King. His eyes were expressionless, but his beautiful face was streaked with tears. With a hint of surprise in his face—which, Sarah knew, must have been the first sign of emotion among his features in months—Jareth turned to regard her and straightened up a bit, taking his weight from the tree.

"Sarah," was all he could think to say.

"Oh, Jareth. How could you let this happen?" Sarah made no attempt to hide the disgust in her voice, although it was almost completely masked by pained defeat.

Jareth's form sagged a bit more. "Why not? What good did I ever do anyone? Sitting around all day, kicking the Goblins around—" his voice cracked a bit at the mention of his nasty little subjects that had met such an unfortunate end—"and for what? It's all meaningless."

Sarah sighed. "That is so pathetic."

"You're telling me. But I can't control it, any more than I can control anything else."

"God, is _everything_ with you about control?"

Jareth ignored her. "Why are you here?" The question was weak and without vigor.

For the first time, Sarah actually stopped to consider it. "This," she motioned to what remained of Jareth's kingdom, "is a part of me, too. I needed to come if it meant even the possibility of saving it."

Jareth snorted. "Bloody little you can do now." He gestured to the rubble with disgust.

"There must be something—"

"There isn't, aren't you listening? It's gone; the whole thing has been brought to the ground. Merry Christmas."

"So what are you going to do?"

Jareth sighed deeply. "I have no idea. I was considering a change of dimension. One of the little, secluded ones that consist of little but—"

"So that's it?" Sarah was beside herself. "You're just going to abandon everything?"

"In case you've gone blind, let me remind you that there's nothing left to abandon!"

"After everything you've done, everything you are, you don't have the power to restore it?"

Jareth shook his head. "Not on my own."

For a moment, the two locked eyes and Sarah felt something within her give way. Suddenly, blocking out all the horror and contempt that currently coursed through her, she was flooded with sympathy, nostalgic remorse, and something else that was sweeter but only vaguely familiar. It was in this moment that she felt the pain that Jareth was plagued with. He'd just lost everything he ever had and, on one level or another, it was because of her.

She walked slowly toward him as another tear rolled down his cheek. Tenderly, she brushed it away and took her arch nemesis into her arms. Jareth poured his grief into that embrace and Sarah had no idea what to do except to hold on. Upon pulling back, Jareth regarded Sarah with a questioning look.

Sarah stepped back a bit, looking Jareth straight in the eye. "What do you want from me?"

Jareth sighed. "I tried to tell you once. But the words weren't mine. They were saturated in lies and a power-hungry desire to own you. The truth is, I don't want to you fear me. I don't even want you do as I say. I can't offer you your dreams, or anything else except what you see before you. But I want you to love me. And I want you to stay."

The raw honesty of that statement caught something in Sarah's mind as she realized it was the first thing she'd ever heard him say that wasn't coated in his chocolate deception. In spite of herself, she was weakening.

Jareth took Sarah gently by the shoulders and looked into her, through her. He said nothing, but his eyes were pleading with her. All at once, she slipped and lost her footing on the massive, teetering scale of indecision, fell through the air (which smelled of him) and hit rock bottom amid a vast field of deep-rooted trees that bent down, heavily laden with the sweet fruit of surrender.

As his lips met hers, everything that had been cosmically lodged into odd crannies of time and space, clicked into place and the world—all of them—seemed to make sense. Not only that, but they all appeared to unite in their sensibility so that all of existence, centered around two beings intertwined in the end of a long battle, boiled down to a hazy blend of every color, scent, sound, and sensation that had ever brought love to the heart of a dreamer.

* * *

Hours later, seated atop the hill, overlooking what had now ceased to be a pile of rubble, and what was now the potential of a great kingdom, the unlikely pair were quiet. The sun was setting over the Labyrinth and everything was bathed in a gold shimmer that cast long shadows over the landscape.

After another moment, Jareth spoke softly. "Sarah…"

"Hmm?" Sarah was dreamy-eyed.

With a sly grin, the Goblin King said, "We'll have to start thinking about an heir."

Sarah patted his hand, "Oh, Jareth, you don't have to worry about _that_."

"Oh really?" Jareth pulled her to him suggestively. Both laughed, although there was a glimmer of something hungry in the Goblin King's eyes.

"Yes, really." She kissed him. "I think Toby would make a wonderful heir to the Labyrinthian throne, don't you?"

Jareth's face fell and he grumbled something incoherent. Sarah laughed.

"But in all seriousness…" she said.

"I think it can be arranged. I couldn't ask you to stay here while he remains so far away."

Sarah smiled and, leaning into Jareth as he held her, looked out over the land. "We certainly do have our work cut out for us, don't we?"

Jareth nodded in solemn agreement. "Think we're up for it?"

"What's the worst that can happen?"

"Careful, that's the kind of thinking that landed you in this fix three years ago."

Sarah pulled away slightly and took his face in her hands. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

THE END


End file.
